Author: puckblog

“I wish him good luck. He’s a good friend of mine and a great player. It was a big trade and I’m sure good players are going to Atlanta, too.” — Alex Ovechkin

Elliot Friedman of CBC Sports writes in his Friday blog that despite being traded to New Jersey, Ilya Kovalchuk’s teammates in Atlanta have nothing but kind words for their former captain. One teammate went on record to say, “[Kovalchuk] is a good guy. Hangs out with the rest of the team, fits in.” Despite some

Defensemen Anssi Salmela was part of tonight’s mega trade between the Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils, and while the talk may reside on prized winger Ilya Kovalchuk, Salmela’s strong offensive play will bring a new dimension to the New Jersey Devils. Salmela, 25, had a goal and four assists in 29 games this season

Phil Coffey of NHL.com applauds New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello for making a mega trade for superstar Ilya Kovalchuk. Coffey believes that tonight’s trade was errily similar to a move Lamoriello made in 2000 when he traded for another Russian sniper Alexander Mogilny. Ten years latter the Devils hope Kovalchuk could produce similar results,

Since his first season with the Atlanta Thrashers eight years ago, Ilya Kovalchuk has made a huge impression on the city of Atlanta and the National Hockey League. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in games (594), points (615), goals (328), assists (287), game-winning goals (40), power-play goals (115), power-play points (243) and shots (2,178).

To listen to Ilya Kovalchuk’s entire media interview, please visit this link.

As the 2010 Vancouver Olympics near, the Russian national ice hockey team are early favorites to bring gold back to the motherland. A Russian triumph in Vancouver may depend on the solid play by the defensive unit led by Ottawa Senator Anton Volchenkov. Volchenkov, who is having another strong year with the Senators, has been

GM WADDELL TELLS KOVALCHUK TO EXPECT A TRADE SOON TSN.CA Staff “…Thrashers general manager Don Waddell met with the star forward on Wednesday and told him to expect a trade to another NHL team over the next few hours or days. There is no indication that any deal with a specific team is imminent, but

Sergei Shirokov capped off a fabulous month by being nominated as a Reebok/AHL Rookie of the Month. The winger from Russia has been playing great all year, as 16 goals and 34 points for the season and was selected to this year’s AHL All Star Game. To find out more about Sergei’s nomination and other

John Glennon of The Tennessean breaks down his thoughts on Tuesday’s Nashville Predators – Pheonix Coyotes game in his Postgame Ponderings Column and comments on the play of Pekka Rinne. “Tough break for goa­lie Pekka Rinne, who had a second straight strong outing. Des­pite suf­fe­ring the shoo­tout loss, Rinne was cre­di­ted with his third shu­tout